


Take Nastya in gently, Aurora

by orcamermaid



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Gen, Other, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22855702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orcamermaid/pseuds/orcamermaid
Summary: An unexpected return.
Relationships: The Aurora/Nastya Rasputina
Comments: 23
Kudos: 215
Collections: Stowaways' Shenanigans





	Take Nastya in gently, Aurora

**Author's Note:**

> strongly inspired by all the wonderful people in the stowaway discord server! i wanted to write nastya fluff, so i wrote nastya fluff. (yes, the title is a play on that one line in sleeping beauty.)

It's Brian who notices. He pauses in tapping commands into the consoles and cocks his head, listening, brow furrowed. He turns slowly to Jonny, who's fiddling with his gun in the corner, and fixes him with a thoughtful look.

"Do you hear that?" he says. Jonny looks up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hear what?" he says after a moment, when it's clear Brian isn't going to elaborate.

Brian frowns. "The Aurora. The engine. It sounds like…" He pauses. "It's in the major key."

Jonny freezes. He takes in the hum of the engine for a moment.

"Major key," he says. "The engine hasn't been in major key since—"

They stare at each other.

* * *

_"Ivy!"_

At Jonny's shout, Ivy looks up from her book. Ashes and Marius, playing cards at the table next to hers, also raise their heads. Jonny storms into the room, with Brian in tow.

"Is there a problem?" Ivy says. Jonny comes to a halt in front of her, shifting his weight restlessly from foot to foot.

"Has…" He pauses, clearly unsure how to phrase his question. "Has anyone come onto the ship?"

Ivy blinks. What an odd question. "Not to my knowledge," she says. "Why do you ask?"

"Have you listened to the engine lately?" he says, eyebrows pointedly raised.

There's a pause as everyone in the room listens to the noise of the engine, that ambient hum they all routinely tune out.

"Fuck me," Ashes mutters. "You don't think…?"

Jonny spreads his arms, shrugging. "I don't see what the fuck else would make her sound like that!"

"I'm lost," Marius says. " _What's_ happening?"

Brian speaks up. "The Aurora," he says. "She sounds like… The noise of the engine is in the major key. It's been in the minor key since Nastya left."

Marius's eyebrows climb a considerable distance up his face. "You think she's _back?_ Didn't she throw herself out the airlock?"

"She did," Ashes says. "But the way the ship sounds… _Something's_ happened."

Ivy closes her book and gets to her feet.

"This warrants further investigation," she states simply. She turns and heads in the direction of the engine room; she can hear the others scrambling to follow.

* * *

They pick up Raphaella, Tim, and the Toy Soldier along the way, throwing out brief explanations (except to the Toy Soldier, who joins the procession with a bright smile without asking what they're doing). The closer they get to the engine, the clearer the joyful tone of its hum becomes, reverberating through the hull of the ship. It really has been a very long time since any of them heard it sound like this; hearing it now, it's evident that the ship has not been running quite right. Until now.

Jonny steps into the engine room first, having elbowed his way to the front of the group. He stops dead just inside the door, staring at the form curled up against the engine. Nastya is singing softly, eyes closed, mouth curved into a gentle smile, one hand stroking the humming machinery. Her hair is loose and unkempt, and her heavy coat is spread out around her. She looks… well, she looks the same, if slightly the worse for wear. She looks happy.

Jonny gapes for a moment before finding his voice. "Nastya?" he croaks.

Nastya opens her eyes and slowly lifts her head to look at him, eyes flicking to each of the other crew members behind him. She smiles at them, dreamily, languidly. Her hand never stops its gentle movement against the engine.

"Hello," she says, voice soft, almost reverent. "It is good to be home."

Jonny finds himself at a loss for words. It is not a common experience for him, and he doesn't enjoy it. "How did you even get here?" he manages.

Nastya nuzzles into the engine, presses a soft kiss to the warm metal.

"Jonny," she laughs. "Do you not know me at all? Do you think there is anywhere in the universe you could take Aurora that I would not hear her sing?"

Jonny's not sure that actually answers his question, but he suspects it's as much as they're going to get out of her at the moment. He clears his throat.

"Well," he says. "Are you staying?"

Her face crumples momentarily at this, and she presses it to the engine, eyes slipping shut.

"I should never have left in the first place," she murmurs. He has to strain to hear her. "I should not have left her. I should not have left you, my love, I'm so sorry. I thought you were gone. Please forgive me, darling."

The engine thrums, a bright purr that shakes through the room. Nastya laughs and grips it tighter.

"I missed you too," she croons. "I missed you so much."

Jonny shuffles his feet awkwardly, looking away. Even beyond the usual discomfort of witnessing Nastya's displays of affection for the ship, this feels like something they're all intruding on. Jonny d'Ville isn't a man with much in the way of decorum or common decency—and he's proud of it, too—but even he feels some sense of wrongness at being present for what is so clearly an intimate moment.

Behind him, Brian takes a small step forward. "It's good to have you back, Nastya," he says. There's a quiet murmur of assent from the rest of the crew. Nastya smiles again, resting her head against the engine as she looks up at them.

"I have missed all of you as well," she admits.

* * *

Things are rather chaotic for the rest of the day. They struggle to get proper readouts from any of the screens—every display on the ship simply reads "NASTYA IS BACK :) <3" repeated as many times as will fit. Once Nastya has finally been coaxed out of the engine room, she settles down in a corner of the mess hall with Marius for a violin-off. The others gather round to cheer them on as both of their bows fly over the strings with dizzying speed. After quite some time—23 minutes and 57 seconds, by Ivy's count—they're forced to call a stalemate, both red-faced and exhausted but grinning. The Toy Soldier drags them both over to the largest table, a hand around each of their wrists.

Dinner is a raucous affair—even more than usual—with everyone talking over each other, pounding their fists on the table, fishing instruments out of improbable places for impromptu mid-meal performances. Nastya is all smiles, flushed and glowing. She is clapped on the back, patted on the shoulder, pulled into rough side-hugs. None of the Mechanisms have much talent for expressing affection or genuine emotion, but it is not hard to tell that she has been missed. And underneath it all, never fading from the forefront of her mind, the Aurora sings with joy and love.


End file.
